Dispatches from the Culture Warshttp://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches
Thoughts from the interface of science, religion, law and cultureSun, 02 Aug 2015 19:46:41 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.3Trump is Against Mexicans Taking Our Jobs. Unless They Work For Him.http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2015/08/02/trump-is-against-mexicans-taking-our-jobs-unless-they-work-for-him/
http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2015/08/02/trump-is-against-mexicans-taking-our-jobs-unless-they-work-for-him/#commentsSun, 02 Aug 2015 19:46:41 +0000http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/?p=36796Donald Trump has been caught in yet another huge contradiction. He’s made opposition to immigration the centerpiece of his campaign, claiming that our jobs are going to Mexico and China (never mind that he has his line of clothing made there). And now it turns out that he has sought to get visas for more than 1000 foreign workers at his own companies.

Trump owns companies that have sought to import at least 1,100 foreign workers on temporary visas since 2000, according to U.S. Department of Labor data reviewed by Reuters. Most of the applications were approved, the data show.

Nine companies majority-owned by Trump have sought to bring in foreign waitresses, cooks, vineyard workers and other laborers on temporary work-visa programs administered by the Labor Department.

The candidate’s foreign talent hunt included applications for an assistant golf-course superintendent, an assistant hotel manager and a banquet manager.

Two of his companies, Trump Model Management and Trump Management Group LLC, have sought visas for nearly 250 foreign fashion models, the records show.

Trump’s presidential campaign and a lawyer for the businessman declined to comment. The Mar-a-Lago Club could not be reached for comment.

The analysis of Trump’s history of actively importing foreign workers comes as he has emerged as an early front-runner in the race for the Republican nomination in the November 2016 presidential election. Trump has positioned himself as a champion of American workers whose livelihoods are threatened by illegal foreign laborers and the offshoring of U.S. jobs.

“I will be the greatest jobs president that God every created,” he said in announcing his candidacy on June 16. “I will bring back our jobs from China, Mexico and other places. I will bring back jobs and our money.”

Gee, I hope none of those Mexican workers are rapists. That would be embarrassing, wouldn’t it Donald? But you know what? This likely won’t slow down his campaign one bit. No matter how obvious it is that he is a liar, a hypocrite and a buffoon, the kind of people attracted to him as a political leader could not possibly care less. He’s loud and brash and, for some bizarre reason, they seem to think that this makes him a good leader.

]]>http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2015/08/02/trump-is-against-mexicans-taking-our-jobs-unless-they-work-for-him/feed/2Pakistani Newspaper Publishes About Fake Anti-Atheist Studyhttp://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2015/08/02/pakistani-newspaper-publishes-about-fake-anti-atheist-study/
http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2015/08/02/pakistani-newspaper-publishes-about-fake-anti-atheist-study/#commentsSun, 02 Aug 2015 19:46:18 +0000http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/?p=36794Pakistani newspaper The Nation on Friday published an article by Shakir Mumtaz about a non-existent study that claims to have found a genetic basis for atheism being a form of psychosis. It’s a near-carbon copy of a post appearing on an anti-atheist blog from a few years ago.

Excerpts from the research are reproduced here below.
New information from a 22-year old study at a German University has many psychiatrists and psychologists throughout the world wondering if atheism is a sign or warning of a more serious mental illness already present or in the process of developing. Doctors are searching for a gene that might cause a correlation between serious mental illness and what they are calling “Overt Atheism.” For the time being psychiatrists and research psychologists in Germany and Switzerland are calling this medical anomaly, “The Misfit Syndrome.”

Doctors at the University in Hamburg Germany have been investigating the connection between religious beliefs and overall mental health and the results of the study have unnerved even the most stoic scientists, physicians and researchers. in other words, Overt Atheism, that is professed as a way of life by some individuals — a manifesto of sorts — was found to be a common component inherent to many people suffering from other forms of severe mental illness,” said Dr. Hans Zimmerman MD PhD

“We started to notice that many of our experimental volunteers – those who were defiantly atheistic in their beliefs — are suffering from various forms of dissociate disorders and social adaptation manias also. This came as quite a shock to us as we studied patient after patient because for years we have been led to believe that religious zeal was often a patently obvious sign of mental illness, but in fact this is not the case. Quite the contrary !

“The individuals we have studied, especially those under the age of forty who actively participate in open debate about theiravowed atheism, or people who are very strident about their atheism are heavily prone to mental illness — and most of the illnesses are quite severe. This was not a handful of subjects who were studied, mind you. There were 17,809 people in the study. It was a very large model as far as psychological experiments go.”

Until a neurotransmitter or a definitive brain anomaly can be identified and positively identified as a trigger, Dr. Zimmerman and his colleagues have given this condition a temporary name — “The Misfit Syndrome” — owing to the fact that nearly 100% of patients studied who professed openly about atheism also had other severe social adaptation issues and many major forms of mental illness that kept them from interacting normally with other people in general.

“The Misfit Syndrome” as we have described it in our literature, is actually a profound psychosis in and of itself,” said Zimmermann. It should be understood that atheism alone is not a mental illness, but overt atheism — the need to profess one’s atheism and to openly debate the existence of a deity of any kind — is almost always a sign of serious mental illness. Many people walk around without a thought about a God or Creator and these people are essentially atheists. These people do very well. The overt atheist, however, people who openly state, ‘I am an atheist,’ and then go on to debate their anti-religious issues, are, according to 22 years of intensive research, often very unwell as far as mental illness is concerned. I say ‘unwell’ because aside from the obvious mental illnesses we have observed, we have also seen a vast amount of yet to be understood mental aberrations

The overt atheist, or those who are believed to be suffering from The Misfit Syndrome, may carry a genetic defect — and that’s the rub.

“The study is virtually infallible and after nearly thirty double-blind studies we cannot come to any other conclusions.

Except there does not appear to be any Hans Zimmerman who ever did such a study and no such study has ever been published. It’s a hoax, always has been.

]]>http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2015/08/02/pakistani-newspaper-publishes-about-fake-anti-atheist-study/feed/3Barton: God Won’t Bless Us Economically Anymorehttp://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2015/08/02/barton-god-wont-bless-us-economically-anymore/
http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2015/08/02/barton-god-wont-bless-us-economically-anymore/#commentsSun, 02 Aug 2015 19:45:54 +0000http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/?p=36792David Barton delivered the usual diatribe about how God won’t “bless us” economically anymore because of same-sex marriage and abortion. This goes along with all that “lift his hand of protection from us” nonsense that he and others on the Christian right repeat continually.

“We have to remember that righteousness exalts a nation, not economics,” he said, “so do not vote your pocketbook. Forty-five percent of Christians vote economic issues over moral issues; that’s not what God will bless. God will bless the moral issues, then your economics will follow that. So we have to come out of the closet and when we get out, we have to remember to think biblically when we vote.”

So how is it that we’ve had any economic success after 1973, then? Why hasn’t our economy started collapsing again over the last few years as more states have recognized same-sex marriages? This is an entirely testable claim. If our economy is only good when God is blessing us and he won’t bless us because of abortion, we should have been in a recession for the last 40+ years. But we haven’t been. Claim disproven.

“If you recognize same-sex marriage, that means you do not recognize an absolute moral law from God,” Barton explained. “So if you’re wrong on the same-sex marriage issue, you’re wrong on God’s moral law. If you’re wrong on the life issue, you’re wrong on inalienable rights. And those two are simple modern indicators of an overall philosophy that does comport with the founding documents or biblical principles.”

So why does this apply only to abortion (about which the Bible says nothing) and same-sex marriage (about which it also says nothing)? We’ve been allowing people to worship other gods from the day the nation was born and that is a violation of the very first commandment. We’ve been allowing premarital sex too. And adultery. We don’t punish people for those things, in clear violation of “biblical principles.” And yet God apparently did and said nothing about those. He didn’t punish us or refuse to bless us because of slavery or genocide, but gay people getting married, that is what makes him get all upset? Those are some seriously screwed up priorities.

]]>http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2015/08/02/barton-god-wont-bless-us-economically-anymore/feed/2Finally, an Understanding of Immorality-induced Natural Disastershttp://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2015/08/01/finally-an-understanding-of-immorality-induced-natural-disasters/
http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2015/08/01/finally-an-understanding-of-immorality-induced-natural-disasters/#commentsSat, 01 Aug 2015 15:04:00 +0000http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/?p=36786We hear from the Christian right all the time that every natural disaster is punishment from God for this or that immoral act. John McTernan, a Biblical prophecy “expert,” explained to Gordon Klingenschmitt which immoral behavior causes which type of natural disaster.

On his “Pray In Jesus Name” program today, Gordon Klingenschmitt interviewed Bible prophecy “expert” John McTernan, who warned that with the legalization of gay marriage nationwide, we have “crossed that line now where there’s not too much time left for America,” before declaring that gay rights activists hate Christians “as much as the Nazis hated the Jews.”

McTernan asserted that “there have been tremendous disasters hitting America at the very same time as America is turning from God,” saying that earthquakes have stuck this nation in response to gay pride parades and that hurricanes have hit America because of legal abortion, all of which are “God warning America to repent.”

Finally! So gay pride parades cause earthquakes and abortion causes hurricanes. But wait, last month was gay pride month and there were gay pride parades all over the country, in every major city and lots of minor ones. Was there a single earthquake in the United States in June worth mentioning? Nope. A few little 3.5-4.0 “quakes” that most people would barely notice. There was a big earthquake in Malaysia, where homosexuality is banned, that killed 18 people though.

It’s fascinating how God disguises those messages he’s supposed to be trying to send us by using perfectly natural events with no connection at all to the sin they are allegedly sent in response to. Mysterious ways, indeed.

]]>http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2015/08/01/finally-an-understanding-of-immorality-induced-natural-disasters/feed/29Gohmert Babbles About Iran Dealhttp://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2015/08/01/gohmert-babbles-about-iran-deal/
http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2015/08/01/gohmert-babbles-about-iran-deal/#commentsSat, 01 Aug 2015 14:33:37 +0000http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/?p=36784Louis Gohmert, the dumbest man in Congress, has a rather bizarre take on the Iran deal. He’s against it, of course, but listen to him explain what he thinks is about to happen because of the deal. This was on the Family Research Council’s Washington Watch radio show:

In an interview with the Family Research Council’s “Washington Watch” program, Gohmert predicted that Iran will soon attain a nuclear capability, which, he explained with some circular logic, the country will then use “to blackmail the rest of the world into removing the sanctions and now they will be able to buy nukes and be able to use those to blackmail people to back off the sanctions.”

“There is going to have to be judgment come down on America,” the congressman said. “This is devastating for the United States if this thing goes through.”

So they can have the sanctions lifted merely by complying with this deal, but instead they’re going to build a nuclear weapon and blackmail the world into removing the sanctions, then buy more nukes so they can blackmail the world to remove the sanctions that were already removed by the first nuke they built, and which they could have removed by just not building a nuke. To quote the Dread Pirate Roberts, “Truly you have a dizzying intellect.”

But wait, there’s more:

Gohmert also warned in great detail about a potential Iranian nuclear EMP attack against the U.S., claiming that Iranian ships will launch such a strike from the east coast or the Gulf of Mexico as a result of the “insane” agreement.

“It will fry virtually every computer chip in the country, all the electrical grids would go down,” he said. “Many cars wouldn’t work. It would prevent our ability to refine oil into gasoline. Walmarts, grocery stores that rely on computers, many of them would have to shut down. It would be an absolute disaster, there are estimates that tens of millions of people would die if an EMP were set off and everything shut down.”

I love how he thinks that Iran could do all of this and we would just sit by and let them do it. Does he not realize that Iran couldn’t possibly get a ship off our coasts with a nuclear weapon even if they wanted to? Does he not realize that if they did get a nuclear weapon and try to blackmail the world with it, the entire country would be a glass parking lot in a matter of days? I would feel so much better if idiots like this didn’t have political power.

]]>http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2015/08/01/gohmert-babbles-about-iran-deal/feed/43AL Guv Making State Board of Education Look Like Texashttp://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2015/08/01/al-guv-making-state-board-of-education-look-like-texas/
http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2015/08/01/al-guv-making-state-board-of-education-look-like-texas/#commentsSat, 01 Aug 2015 14:03:17 +0000http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/?p=36782Gov. Robert Bentley of Alabama appears to want to turn his state board of education into a replica of the one in Texas, appointing to it a guy who has never attended a public school, doesn’t send his children to public schools, and opposes more funding for public schools.

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley has tapped someone to your state’s Board of Education who never attended public schools, publicly declared that his children never will either, and actively supported a successful effort to defeat a vote on a school tax in a divisive campaign in his home county?

Bentley, a Republican, named Matthew Brown, a 28-year-old design engineer at the Baldwin County Highway Department, to the Alabama State Board of Education. Brown graduated in 2007 from Pensacola Christian College and attended Cumberland School of Law at Samford University, graduating in 2011…

Now, Bentley has appointed Brown, a man with absolutely no history of participation of even interest in helping public schools to represent his district on the state Board of Education. In his announcement statement, Bentley said that he was “honored” to appoint Brown, who would bring “a unique perspective to the position.” Unique indeed.

As public education activist Larry Lee noted in a post on his education blog, Bentley “has appointed someone to state board of education with no known involvement ever with public schools (did not attend them and says his kids will not) and who led the battle in

Brilliant. Let’s put people who want to destroy public schools in charge of public schools.

]]>http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2015/08/01/al-guv-making-state-board-of-education-look-like-texas/feed/15Teacher, School Settle Church State Case in Coloradohttp://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2015/08/01/teacher-school-settle-church-state-case-in-colorado/
http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2015/08/01/teacher-school-settle-church-state-case-in-colorado/#commentsSat, 01 Aug 2015 13:32:53 +0000http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/?p=36780A couple months ago, a teacher in Florence, Colorado filed a lawsuit against the school alleging rampant violations of the Establishment Clause by the school, nearly all of them involving a local church that was allowed to use school facilities and proselytize students and faculty. The two sides have now reached a settlement in that case and a consent decree has been issued. Among other allegations in the case:

The Cowboy Church at Crossroads is lead by Pastor Randy Pfaff, and meets every Sunday in the cafeteria of the School. The Church is advertised by two large signs that are hung on school property and are clearly visible to motorists….

The cornerstone of Pastor Pfaff and the Church’s “mission work” at the School is daily morning prayer in front of the School, at the flagpole. Either Pastor Pfaff or another member of the Church has been present for this ceremony every day for the last three years. With the School’s support, Pastor Pfaff has led these services, ministering to the School’s students and staff while holding a bible and using a public address system to preach his evangelical Christian messages…. Numerous faculty members, in including Principal Schipper, participate in services…..

… Pastor Pfaff and the Church, with the support of the School’s administration, routinely minister to staff and students through the distribution of flyers promoting their evangelical Christian views…

Through the Fellowship’s front group, Pastor Pfaff and the Church also hold weekly lunches at the School. The students refer to this event as “Jesus Pizza.” This meeting is promoted to the School’s students and staff through the presence of a large sign in the hallway that reads “God loves you and has a plan for your life. Jeremiah 29:11.” …. During these “Jesus Pizza” sessions, which are led by Pastor Pfaff, he preaches to and prays with Florence students….

The consent decree is remarkably solid. It doesn’t just prohibit the school from all manner of violations, it also boots the church out of the school entirely, even for off-hours rental of facilities for church services. A total victory.

]]>http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2015/08/01/teacher-school-settle-church-state-case-in-colorado/feed/6Police Union Defends Abusive NYPD Officers Caught on Tapehttp://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2015/08/01/police-union-defends-abusive-nypd-officers-caught-on-tape/
http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2015/08/01/police-union-defends-abusive-nypd-officers-caught-on-tape/#commentsSat, 01 Aug 2015 13:02:32 +0000http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/?p=36778Yeah I know, that’s a man bites dog headline if ever there was one. The two officers seen on tape beating the crap out of a guy — a black guy, of course — who was cooperating with them, unarmed and with his hands up, have been suspended from street duty. But the union is offering vile and ridiculous arguments to defend them:

Meanwhile, Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch made his first public statement in defense of the cops.

“This suspect and another armed individual who is still being sought committed a crime,” Lynch said.

No, they were accused of committing a crime. And the evidence is so weak that this man wasn’t even charged, much less convicted. But even if that were true, it is totally irrelevant. Even if they were guilty of a crime, they must be convicted and punished by a court of law, not beaten up by the cops who arrested them.

“When identified by a complainant and confronted by police he ran and when caught, refused to comply with the officer’s legal orders as they attempted to take him into custody.

There is no evidence for this at all. The video shows this man calmly standing at the counter in a store, not running away. But again, even if it’s true, it is not relevant. Even if he did run, when he’s standing in front of them, under control, with his hands up and cooperating, the cops can’t decide to beat the hell out of him. How the fuck is that not so obvious that it should go without saying?

“The arrestee is a career criminal with many prior arrests who is now resorting to the legal extortion of money through the courts by suing in several cases where he was arrested. If the crime didn’t pay enough, the lawsuit might,” Lynch said.

Again, not relevant whatsoever. These two cops brutally beat him and in doing so, they committed a felony. And if you think it’s the first time they did this, you’re kidding yourself. This time they were caught on tape. You know what that makes them? Career criminals themselves. They belong in jail. This police union official is literally defending cops who committed a felony. Why is he allowed to have any role at all in law enforcement?

]]>http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2015/08/01/police-union-defends-abusive-nypd-officers-caught-on-tape/feed/23AL Police Officer Admits to Lying for Other Officershttp://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2015/07/31/al-police-officer-admits-to-lying-for-other-officers/
http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2015/07/31/al-police-officer-admits-to-lying-for-other-officers/#commentsFri, 31 Jul 2015 18:49:11 +0000http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/?p=36776Here’s a rare but important situation. A police officer in Alabama, likely at great risk to himself, testified at the trial of another officer that he and other officers lied to help cover up a case of totally unprovoked brutality by the cop on trial.

An Alabama police officer broke down at the federal trial of a fellow cop, admitting that he lied to internal affairs investigators twice, lied to an FBI agent and lied to a federal grand jury when he was questioned about his colleague brutally beating a handcuffed man and keeping his property as “trophies.”

Joshua Bates, an eight year veteran of the Huntsville Police Department, testified Tuesday that he lied to cover for fellow officer Brett Russell out of fear of losing his job, but admitted that the incident has haunted him ever since.

The incident took place on December 23, 2011 after Russell responded to a domestic violence call at the home of Gary Wayne Hopkins. Bates, who was training a cadet at the time, was called to the scene to assist Russell with putting leg shackles on the suspect.

Once Hopkins was in custody, the dashcam footage showed Russell punching and kicking the suspect, ordering him to “stop resisting,” despite the fact that he was restrained.

Hopkins was so badly injured that the jail refused to take him until he was treated at a hospital.

Following the incident, the officers on the scene reported that Hopkins was combative and defended Russell’s actions. A few days before testifying, Bates contacted the U.S. Attorney prosecuting the case and agreed to tell the truth about what really happened that night in exchange for immunity.

This is a daily occurrence in our police departments all over the country. Everyone knows it. The good cops know it, see it, but feel they can’t stop it because they’ll face threats not only to their job but to their safety. I have interviewed cops who have told me this directly, anonymously of course. They say they know that their are officers who are corrupt and abusive in their departments, but they can’t say anything because they literally fear for their lives and their families if they squeal.

]]>http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2015/07/31/al-police-officer-admits-to-lying-for-other-officers/feed/31Jewish Fascist Again Tries to Murder Gay Pride Marchers in Jerusalemhttp://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2015/07/31/jewish-fascist-again-tries-to-murder-gay-pride-marchers-in-jerusalem/
http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2015/07/31/jewish-fascist-again-tries-to-murder-gay-pride-marchers-in-jerusalem/#commentsFri, 31 Jul 2015 18:18:54 +0000http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/?p=36774Back in 2005, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish bigot attacked a gay pride parade in Jerusalem, stabbing several people. He spent the last ten years in prison for it. He got of prison a few weeks ago and the first thing that he did was stab six more people at this year’s pride event.

Israeli police have arrested a man after six people were wounded in a stabbing at the Gay Pride parade in Jerusalem.

A police spokesperson identified the suspect as the same man who stabbed three people at the parade in 2005.

Yishai Schlissel, an ultra-Orthodox Jew, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for that attack and was released from prison three weeks ago.

Two of the injured are in a serious condition, medics said.

The attacker emerged behind marchers and began stabbing them while screaming, before being tackled by a police officer.

Between those two events, another murderous bigot opened fire at a gay community center in Tel Aviv, killing two people and wounding more than a dozen others. Let’s not mince words: The ultra-Orthodox community, both in Israel and the United States, is as much a group of religious fascists as the Taliban or the Army of God. Fundamentalist extremism is a clear and present danger, regardless of which religion they are a part of.